1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the structure of a switching apparatus assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art small-size switching apparatus of various types have been basically different from one another in their design and have been individually assembled from specific parts selected for intended service. The prior art switching apparatus of small size have therefore been defective in that the requirement for the production and stock of a variety of parts to be assembled results in troublesome and time-consuming production management and stock management and results also in an increase in the costs of manufacture of production equipment such as metal molds. The prior art small-size switching apparatus have also been defective in that the efficiency of assembling is quite low because a switching apparatus of one type must be assembled from its own specific parts different from those of another type and in that extraordinarily many man-hours are required for the assembling because individual parts must be rigidly coupled and fixed together by means such as screwing and caulking.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,463, invented by T. Fujita, who is one of the inventors of the present invention, and assigned to the assignee of the present patent application, discloses a switching apparatus assembly structure comprising a contact block and a transformer block of a novel structure which obviates the prior art defects pointed out above and facilitates assembling of a switching apparatus. In connection with the disclosure of the switching apparatus assembly structure in which such a contact block and such a transformer block are coupled in multiple stages in the axial direction, it is also strongly demanded to obviate the structural defect of the manually operated actuator mechanism used for actuating the contact mechanism.